Horse Daily Double and Pick 3

While vertical wagers like the exacta and trifecta are extremely popular exotic bets in horse betting, horse daily double and Pick 3 betting should not be overlooked as excellent ways to turn a profit betting the ponies.

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While the exacta, trifecta, and superfecta wager focuses on just one race, horizontal bets like the daily double and Pick 3 takes a bit more work, as a horseplayer needs to look at more than one race. However, sometimes it is easier to pick a winner than find the horse in a race that is going to run second or third.

Below are a few horse racing daily double and Pick 3 betting tips to keep in mind.

Horse Daily Double Betting

The daily double was the original exotic wager offered by racetracks, introduced in 1931 at Ottawa’s Connaught Park Racetrack. For years, the wager was offered by most tracks on the first two races of the day to encourage horseplayers to be on track by post time of the opening race of the card.

Then tracks began offering the daily double on the final two races of the day, and now most tracks have “rolling doubles” meaning horse bettors can string together any two races and bet a daily double.

Playing a daily double is actually quite easy. It just entails hitting the winner of two consecutive races. For instance, if you like the #1 and #2 in the first race, and the #3 and 4 in the second race you could place a wager like this:

A $2 daily double of #1,#2 in the first race with #3,#4 in the second race would be an $8 investment.

Or if you have a strong opinion on the #1 in the first race, you could play that horse with four horses in the second leg of the double for that same $8 investment.

A $2 daily double with #1 in the first race with #1,#2,#3 #4 in the second race would be an $8 wager.

Most toteboards and online racebooks show the daily double probable payoffs, meaning you can look for value and overlays in the pools, which will give you more bang for your wagering buck.

Betting on favorites in each leg of the daily double will not lead to profits in the long run, but if you can beat at least one of the two betting favorites, you have a good chance of making a good score with a modest investment.

Horse Pick 3 Bets

A Pick 3 wager involves hitting the winner of three consecutive races and is much tougher than hitting a win or daily double wager. However, the Pick 3 has become a very popular wager, as hitting one that includes a couple of longshots can lead to a huge score.

To cash a bet, a horse bettor has to select three consecutive winners, not an easy task. But most tracks have “rolling Pick 3’s” meaning a horse bettor can start the sequence in a spot where he or she has a strong opinion, or when the three-race sequence has a couple of vulnerable favorites.

Horse bettors can use more than one horse in each sequence, so spreading out the contenders on a ticket is the best way to score.

For instance, if you have three wide-open races, a horse bettor could use three horses in each leg. The ticket would look like this:

Leg 1: #1,#2,#3
Leg 2: #1,#2,#3
Leg 3: #1,#2,#3

The cost of this ticket would be $27, and when you place a wager like this, you are basically saying each horse has an equal chance of winning each of the three races.

If you have a strong opinion in one of the three races, you could single that horse, and go deeper in the other two legs. For instance, a $28 investment could look like this:

Leg 1: #1
Leg 2: #1,#2,#3,#4
Leg 3: #1,#2,#3,#4,#5,#6,#7

If the single wins in the first leg of the three-race sequence, you have additional coverage in the other two legs. Remember that the Pick 3 is a good bet when you can find several vulnerable favorites in the three-race sequence to bet against. Spreading your ticket and having two or three betting favorites winning is not going to show much of a profit, and can actually show a loss.